Hello! We are taking the train this summer from Paris to Munich, about 5.5 hours. Sometimes when we take longer journeys, we like to stop off for a bit and break it up and see a little of a new place. We are thinking of stopping in Stuttgart on this one - maybe having a late beer garden lunch or seeing some sights? Anyone have any suggestions for Stuttgart? Or a better place to stop on this route? Or better not to stop?
Thanks for any ideas!
kim
If I’m looking at the right route, Stuttgart is the only stop, and that is where you would transfer trains. That’s the high speed route. There are slower routes that make more stops (Strasbourg, Mannheim, Heidelberg), but that could make for a very long day.
Also, make sure your ticket allows for hopping on and off trains. I’ve always had reserved seats on specific trains, so I don’t want to assume that any ticket is good for any train going to the destination.
Here is the official site of the Stuttgart Tourist Information https://en.stuttgart.de
Sorry, the above is the site of the City of Stuttgart. The site of the tourist information is here https://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/en
I see a 10:55 train out of Paris Est that would require 5:32 travel time. Is that the one?
You should be seeing 5 stops on that particular route:
Strasbourg
Karlsruhe
Stuttgart
Ulm
Augsburg
My pick for a brief visit would definitely be Ulm. You could stow bags in an Ulm Hauptbahnhof station locker, check out the world's tallest cathedral (Münster), and find some refreshments.
https://tourismus.ulm.de/en/discover/ulm-and-neu-ulm/sights/historical-sights/
MAP of Ulm showing station (DB) location and the old town zone. Click to zoom.
https://english.ulm.de/0/the-ulm-minster
https://english.ulm.de/tourism
I haven't set foot in Ulm myself for many years, but this place looks like it might serve your needs and is centrally located:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187292-d2067186-Reviews-Wirtshaus_zur_Brezel-Ulm_Baden_Wurttemberg.html
My fav on that route is Augsburg - so much to see and do, especially if Martin Luther or social housing medieval style appeals (it certainly does for me). The Fuggerei even has a small beer garden.
I would travel straight through to Munich, such a nice city. I was not a big fan of Stuttgart. Post-war industrial buildings in a lot of places, not a lot of charm. Very little old town left.
To me, the real draws of Stuttgart are the automotive museums, especially the Mercedes Benz one, but they do not lend themselves to quick visits over a 2-3 hour stopover.
I join the others who think you should skip Stuttgart, then!
I have lived in Stuttgart and Augsburg. Stuttgart has the Mercedes-Benz factory and Porsche, but Augsburg is special.
Augsburg has a great Rathaus and the oldest settlement in the world for the poor (Fugeri).
I still remember, and wonder: Years ago I asked the hotel clerk in Munich where we could go to find spaetzle for dinner. He said Stuttgart. Guten appetit and safe travels.
Strasbourg - I haven't spent any time in Strasbourg since 1989.
Augsburg - I've only changed trains in Augsburg. Once was on my 2007 trip up the Romantic Road. I didn't spend any time then, because it's on the main rail line into Munich and I figured it would be easy to get to later. Never have.
Ulm - I've been there twice, in 1988 and 2002. Climbed the tower of the church both times.
Karlsruhe - I've spent weeks in the Black Forest town of Bad Herrenalb, which is a 45 min streetcar ride from Karlsruhe. Always caught the streetcar in front of the Bahnhof in Karlsruhe. I've spent a couple of days actually in Karlsruhe.
Stuttgart - I flew in and out of Stuttgart in 2002, but only changed trains at the station. However, I've spent considerable time in the area south of Stuttgart
I love the area, particularly in the northern Black Forest. If it were I, I'd plan on spending a couple of nights in the area between trains.
Years ago I asked the hotel clerk in Munich where we could go to find spaetzle for dinner.
That was then, this is now. Years ago, when I started tracing my ancestry in Germany, I remembered that my mother told me that my grandmother made spätzle, by cutting pieces of dough off a cutting board into hot water or broth. I realized then that, considering when her parent came over from Germany (mid 1800s) that they must have come from Schwaben, and it turned out I was correct - Küntzelsau.
I think there was time that Spätzle was a regional dish, but today it is more or less ubiquitous in Germany. I've had spätzle all over in Bavaria, and I even had Käsespätzle in Zell, on the Mosel. But the farther north you go, the less likely you are to find spätzle.
Spätzle is wonderful. We lived in Augsburg for four years and Augsburg is a part of Swabia (an old tribe in Germany) that included Augsburg and Stuttgart. There are several ways to serve Spätzle. One restaurant in Augsburg had a version that included cheese, onion and the Spätzle noodle, it was wonderful.
Regarding spätzle being all over Germany…
One of my favorite restaurants in Berlin was Spätzle Express in Kreuzberg. Inexpensive, great tasting Schwäbisch food in Kreuzberg. Sadly, a victim of the pandemic.
Our trip it turns out was 2011. I guessed he was a big fan of regional cooking; we weren't as devoted and found an excellent restaurant right around the corner. That Augsburg version sounds great. I’m a big fan of anything noodle and am working on spätzle making and nokedli. I had the latter in Budapest and realized these beauties were the things my Hungarian grandmother used to make. I’m now one step closer to her memory making soups. Safe travels all.
One restaurant in Augsburg had a version that included cheese, onion
and the Spätzle noodle, it was wonderful.
That's Käsespätzle. Layers of Spätzle and Allgäuer cheese, melted in the oven, served with crisp fried onions on top.
I think Käsespätzle and Maultaschen are two of my favorites - those and Zigeunerschnitzle.
Oh yeah, and Zwiebelkuchen (onion tort), served with Neuewein.
Edited to add: I found this webpage for a restaurant in Landsberg am Lech (I actually ate here in 2007, but I don't remember having this dish). This is Käsespätzle, topped with crispy fried onions.
Ziqeunerschnitzel: Ops, I guess that is "culturally improper". Ziguener means gypsy. Ziguener are people of northern India extraction, called Roma in Europe. I guess it's not nice to call it gypsy schnitzel. Now I think the politically correct name is "Hungarian style Schnitzel".
Käsespätzle is available all over Germany. I find it in almost every German-style restaurant I go to, whether in Bamburg, Frankfurt, Mainz, Rüdesheim, etc.
By Neuewein, I think you mean Federweise which is available in Sept. in most of the wine regions.
That is correct about Zigeunerschnitel being inappropriate. Most places just say Paprika sauce or Schnitzel Balkan Art
Käsespätzle is common everywhere, and is the only type of spätzle I can eat (as long as it's small and well fried). I much prefer bratkartofflen as a side dish.
My wife ordered a federweise once, thinking it to be heuriger, after being told it was a new wine. I think she had one mouthful, and I couldn't drink it.
I have seen neuer Wein (new wine) going by different names in different parts of Germany over thirty-some years. I thought I originally saw it called Neuewein, as one word, but maybe not, and I agree that neuer Wein would be grammatically correct.
Anyway, I first read about Neuer Wein before my first "my-dime" trip to Germany in 1988. I read that it was served in the fall with Zwiebelkuchen (onion tort). I first had Zwiebelkurchen, without neuer Wein, in a cafe in Ulm, about 4 days into my 1988 trip. It was early September, so maybe a bit early for neuer Wein.
Later, on my last full day in Germany on that trip, we traveled from Lahr to Mainz and had a change of trains in Heidelberg. Outside the restaurant in the Heidelberg Hbf (back then they had real sit-down restaurants in train stations, not the fast food courts of today) was a board advertising "neuer Wein and Zwiebelkuchen". I tried to order it, and the waiter informed me that I couldn't get it because it was Sunday.
I was stunned. A German restaurant not serving wine on Sunday. Then I realized, no, it was not the wine I couldn't buy on Sunday. Back then the bakeries were not open on Sundays, and they wouldn't serve Zwiebelkuchen that wasn't freshly baked that day.
Since then I've seen it called neuer Wein in Weikersheim in 2007 and Federweiss in Cochem in 2008. I also saw it called something else in Bad Wildbad, in the Schwarzwald, in 2017. I think it was "Traubenmost".
I think neuer Wein (or Federweiss) tastes a little like hard apple cider, very fruity, and fizzy.
Oh, yeah, and I had Käsespätzle in Zell (Mosel) in 2008.
